


A Strange but Profound Freedom

by sumhowe_sailing



Series: rafflesweek2019 [5]
Category: Raffles - E. W. Hornung
Genre: The Ides of March - Freeform, the school days
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-15
Updated: 2019-03-15
Packaged: 2019-11-18 14:39:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18122315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sumhowe_sailing/pseuds/sumhowe_sailing
Summary: There's been a fair amount of speculation as to what Raffles did during his nights out as a school boy. Here's another perspective on that.Happy Ides of March!





	A Strange but Profound Freedom

He was always such a nervous little rabbit. Of course most young boys were a touch nervous their first time living away from home, but his little Harry Manders had the worst case of it that AJ had ever seen. He’d done everything he could think of to make the boy comfortable--he’d been kind, asked him to sit with him, studied with him, asked the boy to carry his cricket bag, even given him a nickname. But still the boy was so damndably shy. What more could he do to gain his confidence?

He couldn’t say what it was that gave him the idea. Perhaps it was seeing Bunny’s pluck any time another boy tried to bully him. For so shy a blighter, he really could stand up for himself when push came to shove. Perhaps it was the novels he kept reading, with all the glory allotted to friends ‘thick as thieves’. Or perhaps it was a manifestation of whatever perverse nature his mother was always saying he had.

Wherever the idea had come from, AJ clung to it at once. He wished to inspire confidence? Then he would take Bunny into his confidence; give him some job, something to make him feel important. Naturally, the more secretive this little operation, the better. His novels gave him inspiration aplenty. Soon it was only a matter of approaching Bunny and putting the plan into action.

He delayed. It was unlike him, but for some reason he hung back. For weeks he waited, almost afraid to ask the boy to join him on this mad venture. And why? Because he might say no? At the very worst, he might rat Raffles out--but no, no surely he wouldn’t. Shy he may have been in conversation, but he was never shy to show his respect and admiration for his senior. Then what kept him from taking Bunny fully into this constructed confidence?

It was as he was reading Julius Caesar that he made up his mind to enact the plan on the Ides. He decided, incidentally, that it was concern over Bunny tattling that had kept him from speaking up sooner. But if Bunny did betray him against all odds, there would be no better night for it. He could already see himself by candlelight in the headmaster’s rooms, facing his accuser, a scornful  _Et tu, Bunny?_  on his lips.

~~

The Ides dawned dismally, a grey pall over the world and a thin rain dampening everyone’s spirits. Part of him wanted to put off the scheme, to wait for clearer skies--a better omen. But it wouldn’t do. He had delayed long enough, he had made up his mind. And the little scene he had certainly not rehearsed but had admittedly  _considered_  many a time would not play so well on any other night but this.

All through the day he considered his plan. He picked through every possible approach he might use and chose every word, every syllable, with the greatest care. He was tempted, sorely tempted, to nonchalantly drop it on Bunny every time he saw him. But that wouldn’t do. He couldn’t give his little rabbit the chance to get too frightened; if he had time to contemplate the scheme, he would certainly come to his senses before they had a chance to begin.

And so he waited until after supper. It was dark quite early that evening, clouds and rain still persisting. He had time to lazily lull Bunny into comfort by candlelight and then, just as the boy seemed about ready to fall asleep--

“By the by, Bunny, I don’t suppose I might convince you to help me with something?”

“Anything, AJ,” the boy yawned. “Name it and it’s as good as done.”

“There’s a lad.”

The conversation was not as smooth as the opening foray promised it to be. Once Bunny understood what precisely was being asked of him, he nearly balked. But AJ had a firm hand on it; he had anticipated every objection and mulled over evasions for every point he could not counter.

An hour to midnight found them in the upper hall, at the window overlooking the garden, Bunny miserable and afraid, but determined all the same. A pang of pity shot through AJ. Perhaps this was not the best way to be kind to the poor boy. Ah, well. He had committed to it now. 

“Remember,” he whispered, as he climbed onto the windowsill, gripping the rope firmly, “our little secret.”

~~

It wasn’t until he got down into the garden that it occurred to him he did not know what came next. Now he and Bunny shared an immoral secret, so surely Bunny must be more honest and forthright with him henceforth? Surely he would not be so shy. The task was done.

Only, he could not return to his rabbit just yet. If he came back just as soon as he’d gone, then Bunny would know he had not really needed to go anywhere at all. He would understand the set up. He would see straight through his senior and never look up to him again.

A turn around the garden had never refreshed him as much as this one did now. And why not enjoy it? There was no headmaster there to hurry him along to his studies, no friends or admirers to distract him from his thoughts. He could simply breathe in the night air at his leisure. It was a strange but profound freedom. One that he could certainly get used to.


End file.
